SERIES: An Impure Reunion
CHAPTER: An Impure Reunion Chapter 29
=========================================
29.
Clutching only her phone, Jian hurried out of the house.
She wore a slipper on her right foot and a mismatched shoe on her left, but she seemed oblivious to the fact.
Rushing out of the lobby, Jian hastily hailed a taxi that had just dropped off a passenger.
“Ah, Mister, please hurry to Incheon Airport.”
“The airport?”
“Yes, I'll pay you whatever you ask, so please, please just go fast. Please.”
The taxi driver looked startled as Jian spoke without even taking a breath.
Then, after glancing over Jian's disheveled state and noticing her feet, he started driving without a word.
“Fasten your seatbelt.”
As if guessing at her situation, he began to drive quickly.
Even as she watched the scenery fly by the window, Jian couldn't seem to calm down.
Her earlier phone call with Taejun had been more than enough to throw her into turmoil.
‘You didn't even realize I was going easy on you. You should have done as you were told while I was still being patient.’
Taejun had said that and hung up.
As soon as the call ended, she tried calling back, but he didn't answer.
Jian gave up trying to call again and, moving on instinct, left the house.
Until she could confirm with her own two eyes that her child was gone, she couldn't believe anything.
Even if Taejun had already sent her away, Jian chose to go and see for herself.
‘Seol-ah.’
I always knew a day like this would come.
I knew you would leave me and go somewhere alone.
That's why I had prepared so much.
What I should say so you wouldn't be frightened after suddenly going to a strange place,
what to do if you couldn't adjust there, I thought about these countermeasures again and again.
Among all those thoughts, the one idea I never entertained was having you stay here and go through the same things I did.
Because not wanting you to experience the hell I've lived through was the very thing I prepared for the most.
All I could do was hope for you to be happy in a better life than mine, Hope that you would never set foot in this place that drove me to hell, That was all.
So I practiced and practiced, so that when a day like this came, I could send you off without showing any emotion.
I thought you, who had to leave me, shouldn't have to feel uneasy seeing me so anxious.
So I practiced countless times to be able to smile even while feeling the pain of my heart being torn to shreds right in front of you.
I even considered being firm and cold, pushing you away if you threw a tantrum and refused to go.
I even practiced putting on a stern face, sending you away even if it meant striking your slender back, and not crying as I watched you leave.
But it seems all of that was completely useless.
I had no idea how to even begin to fathom this heart-wrenching pain.
‘Seol-ah, Seol-ah.’
For me to send you away... there are still so many things I have to give you.
To you, who said you'd be a good girl so you could get a cat, I still have to give you a proper reason instead of just saying 'absolutely not', I never got to answer you when you asked why summer is hot and winter is cold, I never once let you eat as much of that ice cream you love as you wanted, and to you, who said you liked the night when the moon comes out, I never got to say that Mommy likes the night too.
And
“……”
That the Mister you like so much smells the same as me, your mom, and what kind of scent your dad has, I never got to tell you that story either.
I still have so many things I need to do for you, so how could I possibly send you away?
Jian's vision kept blurring from the welling tears.
Finally, the tears overflowed, drop by drop, and streamed down Jian's cheeks.
Once they started, the tears began to pour out uncontrollably.
‘Heo Jian, you idiot.’
Her past self, who had said she would easily send her child away, had been arrogant.
How could she have ever thought of sending her away, when the mere mention of her child's sudden disappearance made her chest feel like it was being torn apart?
How could she have thought sending her away was the right answer?
‘When even a lifetime by my side wouldn't be enough….’
A sigh escaped Jian's lips as she reflected on her arrogant past self.
As Jian clenched her fists, her hands began to tremble.
‘He couldn't have really put her on a plane already, could he?’
Did he really put her on a plane already? If he really did…If that happened…
The more she thought about it, the more violently her heart reacted.
At the abnormal pounding, Jian clutched her heart and lowered her head.
“Miss, are you okay?”
The taxi driver, who had been speeding, looked at Jian through the rearview mirror in alarm.
“I'm fine. I'm fine, so please, just hurry. Please, sir.”
“Don't worry. We're almost there now.”
Just as he said, the Incheon Airport building came into view.
Seeing it, Jian felt a sense of relief, but her heart was still beating abnormally.
It was the same even after Jian got out of the taxi and entered the airport.
Barely catching her breath, which seemed to rise to her chin, Jian ran through the airport's departure hall.
Many people who saw her passing by instinctively moved out of her way.
“Seol-ah!”
Spotting a child who looked to be Seol-ah's age, she rushed over.
“Who are you?”
But sadly, it wasn't Seol-ah.
After repeating this several times, a devastated Jian collapsed onto the floor.
“Really…”
Did Taejun send Seol-ah away?
“Like this, without even a goodbye, so suddenly…”
Once again, tears began to cloud her vision.
She resented herself so much for letting her child go so futilely.
She grew even angrier at the fact that, knowing her child was gone, all she could do was collapse and cry like this.
Drip, drip. Just as Jian's tears fell uncontrollably,
- We are looking for a lost child. A little girl with her hair in pigtails, wearing a brown checkered uniform, with a mole under her left eye. Anyone who has seen this child, please come to the information desk in Section C. I repeat…
The announcement reached the ears of Jian, who had been crying for some time.
She recognized the description given by the announcer instantly.
The pigtails she had tied that very morning, the design of the uniform, it was unmistakably Seol-ah.
Scrambling up from the floor, she moved toward the information desk mentioned in the announcement.
And there, Jian found him.
“T-Taejun, our Seol-ah, where is our Seol-ah?”
Taejun, standing there alone.
Spotting Jian in her messy state, Taejun's brow furrowed deeply.
The time was just after Taejun had received Jian's call.
“What were you doing, not watching the child!”
Taejun roared at Manager Ha.
At his loud voice, Manager Ha bowed his head, looking ashamed.
Taejun roughly ran a hand through his hair, a troubled expression on his face.
“Report her as a missing child right now. Now!”
As soon as his order was given, Manager Ha hurried to the service center inside the airport.
It seemed the child had slipped out of Manager Ha's sight and disappeared while Taejun was briefly on the phone with Jian.
“Damn it, even the way she disappears is just like Heo Jian……”
Taejun's face filled with displeasure as he spat out the curse.
Even after giving the order to Manager Ha, Taejun must have been anxious himself, as he started running in the same direction.
Even as he moved, he would stride over to check on any child he saw who looked to be Seol-ah's age.
“No, we haven't had any lost children brought in, nor have any come here on their own.”
Unfortunately, it seemed the service center knew nothing about Seol-ah either.
They quickly tried making announcements with the child's description several times, but the child did not appear.
Just as time was passing fruitlessly,
A voice suddenly flashed through Taejun's mind.
‘Ah, but I left my preschool bag!’
Before Taejun's call with Jian, the child had been on the verge of tears, whining about her preschool bag.
Hearing that, Taejun had dismissed it, saying it was fine since she didn't need it right now.
‘No way…’
Could she have gone off by herself in this crowded place just to get that bag?
A deep crease formed between Taejun's brows.
Somehow, her actions were no different from Jian's.
The way they'd risk everything for one trivial thing, the mother and daughter were two peas in a pod.
Roughly loosening his tie, Taejun immediately headed for the parking lot.
“T-Taejun, our Seol-ah, where is our Seol-ah?”
Just as he was about to move, a familiar voice caught his ear.
When he turned his head, at the end of his gaze stood Jian, looking an absolute mess.
Jian rushed over to Taejun and clung to his arm.
“Taejun, what was that announcement just now? Our Seol-ah, where is our Seol-ah? Huh?”
He had expected Jian to rush to the airport as soon as she heard.
But he hadn't expected her to arrive so quickly.
‘More importantly, I never thought the kid would actually disappear.’
Taejun cursed inwardly as he looked at Jian.
“Just as you heard.”
“What do you mean, just as I heard?”
“The kid disappeared on her own.”
As soon as Taejun finished speaking, the color began to drain from Jian's face.
Taejun, who had been carefully observing Jian's expression, let out a smirk and said,
“Saves me the trouble. Good thing she disappeared on her own.”
Author: Donggeurami (Son Yoon-seo)
Publisher: Toonplus
Email: [email protected]
ISBN: 9791157738274
© Donggeurami (Son Yoon-seo), 2022
※ This e-book is published by <Toonplus> under contract with the copyright holder. Unauthorized reproduction and distribution are prohibited. Violation of this may result in legal action.
0 Comments